The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial variety of Festuca arundinacea, commonly identified as tall fescue grass, which has been given the variety denomination of ‘KT12’. Its market class is PLT/388 and is commonly classified by the ornamental horticulture industry as a cool season turf grass. When seed is sown at a relatively high density, tall fescue creates a dense turf with a medium to coarse texture which is suited to climates from the northern United States and extending south to the “Transition Zone”.
Cool season turf grasses, such as tall fescue, typically exhibit a clumping or “tillering” growth habit whereby multiple stems arise from a single seedling but do not spread laterally. By contrast, warm season turf grass species exhibit a spreading habit, which is made possible by above-ground prostrate stems known as stolons and also by below-ground lateral running root structures known as rhizomes. There are a myriad of benefits of turf grasses which possess stolons and rhizomes including but not limited to: improved drought tolerance, improved heat and cold tolerance, improved wear tolerance, faster recovery from injury, and improved aesthetics. These attributes also contribute to reduced production costs for turf grass producers and reduced maintenance costs for end users. Consequently, it has long been the objective of tall fescue breeding programs to develop varieties that possess either or both stolons and rhizomes in order to develop a superior turf grass variety.
Parentage: The new Festuca arundinacea cultivar is a seedling selection of Festuca arundinacea ‘Torpedo’ (unpatented) resulting from a multi-generational, open-pollination breeding program conducted from 2004 to 2011 at a commercial plant breeding facility in Richmond, NSW, Australia with the primary objective of developing a highly rhizomatous tall fescue variety. To initiate the breeding program, seeds from ‘Torpedo’ were germinated in 2004 and again in 2005. These two crops resulted in approximately one thousand rooted seedlings, from which two hundred progeny were identified as possessing a greater number of rhizomes and a denser growth habit when compared with the seed parent and other sibling seedlings. These two hundred plants were subsequently potted into 140 mm nursery pots for further observation. After further observation, those plants that were identified as the most rhizomatous of these plants were potted into 200 mm nursery pots for further observation and were allowed to cross-pollinate. Seed was subsequently harvested from those plants that exhibited the greatest number of rhizomes. These seeds were later germinated in 162-cell propagation plug trays, resulting in approximately 648 rooted plugs. In autumn 2006 (approximately April in the Southern Hemisphere), approximately one hundred plants with the greatest number of rhizomes were isolated and potted into 140 mm nursery pots for further observation. In early Spring 2006 (which approximates to September in the Southern Hemisphere), twenty plants which were observed to be the most rhizomatous plants, and also observed to exhibit a slightly denser growth habit, were selected and potted into 200 mm nursery pots. Said twenty plants were allowed to grow adjacent to forty-eight 140 mm nursery pots containing common Festuca arundinacea plants, which are non-rhizomatous. The breeding progeny were allowed to openly cross-pollinate with the common Festuca arundinacea plants. The breeding progeny were also manually cross pollinated by the breeder. In approximately December 2006, seed was harvested from the twenty progeny plants and germinated in propagation plug trays, resulting in one hundred and twenty-three seedlings. In approximately April 2007, the breeder isolated fifty plants that exhibited a combination of the greatest number of rhizomes and the longest rhizomes, and also ten plants that exhibited the densest growth habit from the one hundred and twenty-three seedlings harvested in December of 2006. These sixty plants were potted into 140 mm nursery pots. Said plants were allowed to openly cross-pollinate and were also manually pollinated by the breeder. From these sixty plants, ten plants were observed to be highly rhizomatous and exhibit a relatively dense growth habit. Seeds were harvested from each of these ten plants and later germinated in propagation plug trays which resulted in one hundred and twenty-eight seedlings. These seedlings were subsequently potted into 90 mm nursery pots and labelled “KT1” to “KT128”, corresponding to each of the one hundred and twenty-eight plants. In approximately October of 2008, twenty plants which were observed to be highly rhizomatous and exhibited a relatively dense growth habit were potted on into 200 mm nursery pots for further observation. In approximately April of 2008, each of the twenty plants were removed from the nursery pot and the number and length of rhizomes were recorded. One of said plants, identified as ‘KT12’, was observed to exhibit significantly more rhizomes and longer rhizomes. Some of the other accessions from the breeding program were also observed to exhibit a relatively high number of rhizomes, but ‘KT12’ had longer rhizomes than all other accessions and also exhibited a larger number of rhizomes growing from the bottom of the pot. Based on these observations, ‘KT12’ was isolated for further trials and evaluation.
Asexual Reproduction: ‘KT12’ was first asexually propagated by division of rhizomes in 2008 in Richmond, NSW, Australia. ‘KT12’ has since been further asexually propagated by means of cutting and division of rhizomes. The distinctive characteristics of the variety have remained stable and true to type through successive cycles of asexual propagation.